Better
by DarkPhoenixIncarnate
Summary: Batman/Flash "Now I understand. You play the fool to hide a warriors pain."   Orion to Flash. Set a few weeks after the episode 'Flash and Substance'


My first BatFash fic! I own nothing, sadly. D: Still, enjoy!

* * *

_"Now I understand. You play the fool to hide a warriors pain."_ ~ Orion to Flash. JLU

Orion wasn't the...type for friendship. He was not in denial, he was not making excuses, and he was not the cliché. Through his own personal experiences he understood that friendship was not something he should concern himself with.

The members of the Justice League? He did not consider them friends. They were his allies, the enemy of my enemy and all that. In a mission he'd risk his life for his teammates, he expected nothing less in return, his faith in them was rewarded again and again.

But missions were, for the most part, his only contact with them at all. He did not mingle, he did not make conversation. Perhaps his expectations were too high, the only time he had really attempted to converse with these people ended up leaving a whole room to fester in an awkward silence while he excused himself, ashamed.

In the commissary, his fellow heroes would brush past him, trays in hand, and say nothing to him. But they'd always offer him a light nod, or a smile to show a mutual respect.

It was better this way.

For him, at least.

The Flash, however? He loved to mingle, adored human contact, as though he drew his power from the attention of others.

Orion was observing this happen about 30 feet from him, seated at the powerfully white table, his food lay untouched, fork dangling in his fingertips as he watched the Flash attempt to make conversation with his fellow heroes.

They ignored him.

He did not need to hear the conversation to know that Flash was being ignored in the "nicest" way possible. They would reply to him, if nothing else out of their own guilt for truly not wanting the man's presence, but their replies were heartless, while the smiles Flash gave them were undeniably _real_.

The young woman the speedster had been speaking to smiled back at him, he waved her goodbye before turning and heading for the food.

Once he had looked away the young woman turned to her group of friends and rolled her eyes, mimicking the Flash, mocking him, her friends giggled quietly, joining in the tomfoolery.

Orion grit his teeth at the blatant disrespect. They thought of him to be a fool, most of the league did. However Orion knew better, their ignorance astounded him. His own ignorance concerning the younger man, so long ago, astounded him.

Feeling a pressure on his thumb he looked down, seeing the metal fork he had been gripping bent to oblivion.

Shining scarlet drew his attention from his thoughts, in front of him was the Flash, smiling at him that genuine smile, holding two trays stockpiled with food. Orion followed the young man's gaze down to the fork still clenched in his fist. He immediately let go, and the mangled metal clanked lightly as it fell upon the table.

"Whoa, don't worry, I'll get ya another one."

Less then a second later he was presented with a new fork. It gleamed under the bright lights of the commissary, he nodded lightly, accepting the utensil. "Thank you."

Flash smiled at him again and took a seat right across from him. Something that no other member of the League would usually do, something he would normally not allow. But the man before him was an exception; he had an unhealthy amount of respect for the speedster.

He caught himself staring at Flash as he ate, the food disappearing into the black hole that was his mouth, and he wondered when he stopped feeling disgusted by the sight.

Perhaps it was when he realized that this was the only place the Flash could eat at his own, normal pace. He imagined the man across from him sitting in a public setting, trying to play a civilian; eating small portions, taking one slow bite at a time, inwardly knowing that by the time he was done he would have burned off everything he ate and then some.

Turning his gaze away, Orion swirled his fork in his pasta, beginning his meal with the other man in silence.

Normally, he enjoyed silence, but in the pretense of the Flash? Silence not only seemed awkward, it_ felt _fundamentally_ wron_g.

He looked up from his meal in time to see the speedster zoom back to the buffet, refill both his trays with food and sit across from him, inhaling a pile of cheeseburgers all in less then 30 seconds.

With a light smirk on his lips, Orion spoke. "So, Flash." The younger man paused from his meal and looked up at him, smiling with his full mouth, his cheeks red and puffed. To Orion's surprise, Flash managed to speak. "Mfral fe Whalie."

After taking a moment to actually attempt to decipher what Flash had said, Orion gave up and raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Lifting a finger, Flash signaled Orion to wait while he swallowed his mouthful in an exaggerated fashion, then drinking a huge chug of cherry cola to get it all down. He looked around suspiciously for a split second before saying "Call me Wally."

Orion's eyes widened for a moment. Either the Flash was really stupid, or he really, honestly trusted him. Orion knew that the Flash- Wally, was _not_ an idiot. He nodded lightly at the younger man, more so in respect then agreement.

"Wally." He tried it out, the name suited the man in front of him, and for a moment Orion found himself feeling slightly dismayed that he himself did not have a secret identity to share with his comrade, to show him that he felt that same trust in return.

Wally had begun eating again, and blinked when he heard his name "Ya?" His mouth was full of food as he said this. One of the female heroes walked by, sneered at him and muttered loudly;

"Disgusting."

Flash's entire form seemed to droop at her comment, the woman walked away, nose in the air, huffing while Wally's grip on his cheeseburger went lax.

Orion narrowed his eyes, anger welling within him. If he were a man with less honor, he would have smeared her pretty little face into the wall.

Wally was no longer eating.

Orion felt himself mangle another fork.

"Do not mind her disrespect, my friend. Continue your meal."

Friend. Yes Wally was his friend, perhaps his only friend on this strange planet.

It was better this way.

Flash had opened his mouth to speak, but he was instead interrupted by the dropping of a tray in front of him.

"You need sugar in your diet." Came the deep voice of Batman, who immediately sat beside the Flash at their table, setting his own tray down.

Some of the others had looked on in a bit of shock, seeing the Batman himself sitting in the commissary was nothing short of unusual, not to mention sitting beside the Flash. Wally blinked down at the tray Batman had put in front of him finding a mountain of cakes, sweet roles, fruits, and brownies.

Any sort of despair the younger man might of been feeling vanished before Orion's eyes, he smiled a brilliant, shining smile in Batman's direction. "Thanks Bats!" His cheeseburgers were forgotten, Wally was happy again and Orion just barely caught the smile on Batman's lips.

Batman turned his gaze to Orion, giving him a light nod of respect. "Orion." He said.

"Batman." Nodding in return, he adjusted his helmet lightly and returned his gaze to the Flash, who had slowed in his eating since Batman's arrival, most likely to avoid spraying the older man with the pudding he was devouring. "Oh!" He swallowed before he spoke this time.

"You wanted to ask me something Orion?"

The hero nodded. "...Yes. What ever became of your enemy? The...Trickster was it?"

He wondered if he really cared, if nothing else he just wanted to make conversation. Which was, again outside the norm for him. Though, again, sitting in utter silence with the Flash was far too unnatural for his taste.

Wally smiled at him, and Orion noticed it was nowhere near as brilliant as the smile he had showed_ Batman_. "He turned himself in, just like he promised. And he's back on his meds too. You know..."

He began eating again, putting a small sweet role into his mouth. "He's actually mm- a good guy, kinda eccentric, but a good guy." Another one flew into his mouth. "Damn Bats, these are good. Where do you fly these chefs in from, France?"

Batman let out a breath of what seemed like amusement. "No. The food we eat comes from a variety of local businesses."

Flash licked frosting off of his fingers, it was that moment Orion noticed Flash's left hand was under the table. Weird.

"That must be great for the local economy. Good thinking Bats."

"Mm."

"I heard you caught...uh, what's his name, the Alice in Wonderland guy."

"Mad Hatter."

It was then that Orion noticed Batman's right hand was under the table, as well. His first thought was...

No no, that couldn't be right. Could it? Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him, though...They were sitting quite close to each other, he could not help but notice. And he had already known Batman had a certain...fondness for the Flash. Not that the man could be blamed.

However, to jump to the conclusion that they were lovers?

It was preposterous. It was foolish. It was not possible. It was...

Orion observed the two for a moment longer, both of them having an (almost) normal conversation with each other, Wally offering constant smiles, Batman listening intently to everything Wally was saying, offering constructive feedback, their hands still under the table.

The powerful white of the table seemed to be mocking him, he could feel his pupils dilate as he stared at the seemingly endless white. Trying to see through it, trying to make it part with his mind to reveal the truth.

There was no other logical reasoning for either of them to have their hands under the table like that, for that long,

He had to know, he had to. His entire appetite was gone, a slave to his curiosity, unable to help himself Orion dropped his mangled fork to the ground, and as fast as he could he bent down under the table to retrieve it.

They were fast, almost too fast, but he saw it, their hands pulling apart rapidly.

"What cha doin down there, big guy?" Flash called out, and Orion could hear the timber of fear in his voice.

He couldn't believe it.

He sat up then, lifting the bent fork. "I dropped this."

Batman and the Flash fixed their gazes upon him, Wally's gaze was more pleading, while Batman's was a glare that was sure to make any normal human soil themselves.

They knew he saw.

They wanted to know if they could trust him.

Orion smirked a bit, with his thumb he unbent his fork as best as he could and took a bite of his pasta, feeling their gazes attempting to burn holes through him.

He made a show of chewing slowly, savoring the flavor, swallowing and looking straight at them again.

"You're right, Wally. The food is delicious."

Wally blinked a few times before his lips tilted upwards in a smile, and Orion felt himself grinning back.

The noise around them had vanished, they were the only three left in the room, at the table against the wall, farthest from all the others.

A world away from all the others.

Orion was not one for friends. He rarely acquainted himself with any of his fellow league members for longer then absolutely necessary.

All but the two before him now.

Earth's greatest warriors, trusting him, and him alone with their secret.

It was better this way.


End file.
